$575,000 for asbestos victim with months to live

Rudolf Sautner worked in the Wittenoom asbestos mine and mill in Western Australia from November, 1963, until it closed in December, 1966.
Photo: JOHN WOUDSTRA

A Ballarat man dying from cancer caused by exposure to asbestos 30 years ago has won $575,000 compensation from his former employer.

Rudolf Sautner, 61, worked in the Wittenoom asbestos mine and mill in Western Australia from November, 1963, until it closed in December, 1966.

Mr Sautner was diagnosed in August with peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare cancer so named because it appears as a tumour in the peritoneum membrane of the abdomen.

Exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of the disease. Symptoms usually do not occur until 20 to 40 years after the exposure.

Tragically, because of a lack of effective treatments, malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is often fatal. Those who contract it live on average less than a year from the time of their diagnosis.

Mr Sautner, a married father of three from the Ballarat suburb of Wendouree, worked servicing trucks before he fell ill. He had never been seriously ill before this year.

"I had a pain in my side and thought I'd pulled a bloody muscle," he said.

"The doctor sent me for a scan. Then I got in touch with a specialist and after that they did a biopsy," he said. "It has been traumatic at different stages of the game, so to speak. At the moment I am on painkillers and not in pain.

"We can only hope."

On Mr Sautner's behalf, law firm Slater & Gordon sued CSR Ltd and its subsidiary and operator of the Wittenoom mine, Midalco Pty Ltd, formerly known as Australia Blue Asbestos.

A $575,000 settlement was reached on October 23.

Mr Sautner's lawyer, Claire Setches, said: "This case once again illustrates the tragic legacy of Wittenoom, where thousands of men (were) working in horrific conditions.

"The men were exposed to an awful carcinogen despite the fact that the dangers of asbestos had been documented since the early 1900s and it had been linked to lung cancer in 1950."

Mr Sautner, who was 21 when he went to Wittenoom, recalls working in a fog of asbestos dust in the mill.

"There was no ventilation at all. The fog got thick and then it got thin, depending on the wind. It was worst in the wet season," he said.

Since falling ill, Mr Sautner says he has had his good days, when he can get about, and his bad days, when he just eats and sleeps. He's been told he has three to six months to live. He's hoping for two more years.